Having a go at fixing a Wings of Glory aeroplanes crooked wing

[Roy]

I'm hoping to start playing Wings of Glory WW1 in 2020 and have been buying some models to play 1918 games. Unfortunately one of the models had a crooked wing. Now I'm no model building expert but I did decide to give it a go at trying to fix the problem. Probably there is an easier way of fixing these issues?



The upper wing is going off at an angle on the left-hand-side when viewed in the above photo. Also, though not so evident in the photo, the tail is crooked and the tailplane is, again, angled to the left.

To say I was disappointed when I noticed these defects would be very accurate, and since there wasn't much that could be done - the seller wasn't at fault, its a manufacturing issue - I decided to have a go at fixing the issue.

It was harder than I imagined!



Cutting away the upper wing wasn't as easy as I'd hoped. But do-able. I used a razorsaw.

The tailplane, once removed with the razorsaw, was re-cut at an angle to meet the skew-whiff tail, then glued in place with superglue.

The upper wing was then positioned as-near-as-I-could-manage-straight back on the model. That wasn't easy, and that's an understatement. Swearing. Sweating. Glued-up fingers. Finally it ended up in a position I'm happy with. Never again! (hopefully)



I, also, replaced the plastic peg, that represents the pilot, with a metal miniature from Red Eagle Miniatures ...and then noticed that the plastic peg is connected to the inside floor of the model and I'd only gone and smashed out the bottom of the aeroplane. Doh! Luckily it was fixable.

[since these photos were taken I've done some more work on the metal pilot miniature. Broke it free of the glue, filed the miniature's bottom half so it wasn't as tall, reglued and placed back in the cockpit. Now the metal pilot figure doesn't sit as high in the cockpit as it first did.]



Quite a bit of superglue was needed to attach the upper wing - you can see the blobs in the above photo. Never mind. Maybe I can clean them up a bit before touching the paintwork up. If not, then they'll add strength to the glue join.

[the 'bit' hanging from the left-hand-side upper wing, in the photo, is the factory paintjob/camo decal. Its been reattached.]

I'll have to paint up the pilot miniature and I might, also, add some other painted details to personalise the miniature. Those are jobs for another day.

[FierceKitty]

Hmmm, must dig out my flying circus one of these days.

[petercooman]

Long time no see roy, welcome back!

Good job! 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Good job, no one will look at them face on, don't worry about the glue.

[paulr]

 

Much improved

[Techno]

Seconded ! 

Cheers - Phil

[Roy]

Thanks all.

Yes, I had another look at the glue 'blobs' under the top wing and, to be honest, you can hardly see them - they'll be even less visible once I repaint.

[Heedless Horseman]

Good work! But probably easier than building an Airfix Bristol Fighter or RE8!!! 

[FierceKitty]

It was a GREAT relief to discover that Shapeways could provide one-piece castings, and all I had to do was make up a propellor, and paint them, of course.

[Heedless Horseman]

Out of curiosity? How many others DID build Airfix Biffs or Harry Tates? As a kid...tried and gave up.    Late teens/early 20's (don't remember!!!)...actually got a couple finished!    But...MY 'storage' , back then, soon reduced the models to their natural state of bits of plastic with no will to repair!!! 
However, those kits WERE 'Educational'... Biplanes were held together by wire rigging, not so much the struts...and you realise just how finely tuned the machines were...or not. When you read an account of a shot loose rigging wire during combat...as a kid, it was "Oh yeah"...with thought, it will have been much more " Oh S**t!!!" 
Also, it does highlight those accounts that DO praise the Groundcrew...whether Riggers or Fitters, Armourers, etc...without whom, those 'High Tech' for the time, aeroplanes would never have flown! MUCH praise to all of them in an old  War.